Chapter 16

Chapter 16





Segomo reached the cities west gate as the sun reached its height.  He had ridden hard for two days, stopping only when he or his horse was about to collapse from exhaustion.  He had no way of knowing if he beaten the traitor back to the city or not.  A difficult decision had to be made through his tiredness, weather to risk confronting Atrius, who would no doubt be the traitors first stop or to race around the city to find the other school commanders and organise a coup as quickly as possible.

The guards opened the city gates with worried faces.  Segomo realised the speed of his approach would have spooked them.  Why would the second in command of an army be returning to the city and riding like he was being chased by the devil if he didn’t bring bad news.  The guards’ postures eased when they saw him smile.  “Not to worry lads all is well, we won the day.  I ride in search of a deserter.  Tell me am I the first solider you have seen?”

The guards had told Segomo they had seen no one but the usual merchants that came and went from the city on a daily basis.  It was not a guarantee that he had beaten the unknown traitor back.  The man could have discarded his weapons and armour and would likely have done so to lighten his load.  He would look much like any other member of the cities poor in only a tunic.  The man would no doubt be one of the cities elite.  He doubted any of the lower born men who served with the Auxiliaries would have any cause to argue a change in the rulers of the city.  If he had been beaten back by his quarry the man would have gone straight to Atrius.  Segomo decided it would be best to avoid the beast and speak with the other school Centars.

Segomo always felt repulsed on entering the city after time away.  The smell of the streets was nauseating after the fresh country air.  The assault to his senses was much the same after battle.  The air was filled with mixed smells of voided bowels and emptied stomachs and butchers shops with open carcasses.  The smell from the cities tanneries only compounded the dizzying effects of the rancid air, a foul smelling mix of shit and urine used in the long tanning process.

He tried not to look too hurried walking through the streets.  The reaction of the guards to his rapid approach would become a wide spread rumour if he were seen to be dashing around in almost panic.  The streets narrowed and the smells intensified as he walked away from the main road that ran through the centre of the city from its east to west gates.  The cramped streets were filled with the cities undesirables.  The back alleys were home to prostitutes and organised crime gangs.  There was very little that was considered illegal in the city but where it was wanted they could provide.  It was an area he could walk through with people doing their best not to notice what went on and who passed by.  The results of many attempts to infiltrate and route out the cities crime elements had been bodies found in lumps of flesh and bone, unrecognisable as man or beast.

He kept his cloak firmly wrapped around him to hide his armour as he hurried along the streets, ignoring the calls from pimps offering him man and woman, girl and boy as items of pleasure.  His pace intensified as he passed the most cramped portion of the city, furthest away from its main trade routes.  The only people still living here were those close to death from disease or those fleeing from the City Guard or even the crime bosses who would enter the foulest reaches.  Even the sun struggled to penetrate the tight space.  The buildings were also close to falling down, ancient structures of wood and mud held together only by the press of the buildings next to them.

He heard a muffled scream from behind him as he pushed passed an elderly couple who had pushed out their hands asking for a few Citirians for food or wine.  He turned to see a cloak much like his own.  One of the guards from the gate had followed him.  The form at his feet was little more than a girl, she was covered in filth from the streets and had only a shredded rag to offer as clothes.  She had pressed herself against the wall trying to let the guard through.  The guard held his short sword in his hand, dripping with blood from her freshly opened throat.  Segomo’s eyes met with the guards.  He hadn’t beaten the traitor back.  The man had been waiting for him and had followed him, not willing to risk killing the cities champion in plain view, he would have pushed the blade into his back in the unforgiving back streets of the city.  The guard didn’t get a chance to speak.  Segomo saw the mans lips curl to call out a curse, no doubt an insult to who he saw as a traitor to the city.  A small knife glinted around his throat before he could speak.  The girl’s pimp or father had been close behind her, either way he had come for revenge.  His face appeared from behind the neck of the guard who’s mouth was now open in shock as he felt his life ebbing away.  A few black teeth and wicked smile greeted Segomo.  The man was as filth covered as the girl.  He pulled the guard backwards and to the ground.

The street seemed to erupt into life.  Within seconds twenty more dishevelled figures appeared from dark doorways to fall on the fresh corpse.  Segomo hurried away as the guard was stripped of anything that could be sold and left naked on the narrow street.  He kept his cloak wrapped even tighter, his spare hand firmly gripping the handle of his sword.

Segomo hurried on through the alleyways now intensely worried.  Not only had the traitor beaten him back but he must have already warned Atrius of his intent if the gate guards had been ordered to kill him.  His only option would be to try and make it to the school of Marcus Narbus and hope he still had a welcome.

Every step along the foul smelling pathways was a nervous one, even though they were hurried.  Segomo passed many more streets seeking a route that would take him to the far side of the city and Narbus’s school.  He heard the sounds of military activity before he turned back onto the main street just short of the school.  He could see men racing around the street blocking off any points of access.  Narbus was instantly recognisable in the middle of the street, his men had yet to block off the centre of the street itself and Segomo hurried towards who he hoped would be an ally.

Narbus was dressed for a battle.  His segmented armour shone in the early afternoon sun light.  Segomo could see he was shouting streams of instructions to those around him.  Before he could get close he was challenged by one of Narbus’s men.  “Let me through I must speak with the Centar.”  The guard recognised Segomo and paused a moment before calling to his commander who shouted to have him let through.  Segomo hurried the last few paces, greeted by an anxious look from the animated Centar.
“Tell me all went well.”  Segomo nodded surprised by the first question but quickly understanding it was due to him being alone.
“I had to race back, a traitor fled the army.  By the look of it I’m guessing he beat me back.”
“I got word of this late last night.  A man had reported to Atrius that our rebellion was soon to begin and that myself and Antinius were involved.”  The speed at which the traitor had returned astounded Segomo.  The man must have had fresh horses tethered all along the route back.  The escape must have been prepared which meant Atrius must have known about the rebellion for a while.  “Atrius gave orders for his men to begin outfitting any able bodied beast in the city with weapons.  He has taken over Leucetius’s school as a base.  He occupies the East of he city and I have the West.  I don’t know if Antinius will make it here with his men or not.  Mine are doing what they can to give us some defences and arm our own Auxiliaries, at least those that will fight.  Many of them fear the reprisals that would fall on their families should we fail.”  It wasn’t hard for Segomo to guess that Atrius would no doubt ensure anyone thought to be helping the rebellion would be killed along with their families and the deaths would no doubt be made slow and painful to set an example and keep the masses cowering in fear.
“Leucetius will be three days to a week returning, I only made it two by almost killing myself and my horse.”
“I’m not sure we can hold out that long.  If Atrius has armed most of the cities beasts they will have a significant strength advantage over us.  Trained or not they know how to fight hard.”  Segomo swore under his breath.  Unless they could hold out Leucetius would not be able to enter the city.  It could be that they would need his and Eudeyrn’s men to secure it.  If most of the city would be coming at them they would need all their resolve to hold out for long enough for help to arrive.

It was evening before Gnaeus Antinius arrived with his men.  Barley three hundred had survived their flight through the city.  He arrived at the front of the freshly erected barricade of overturned carts, pots, baskets and any wood that could be found and hammered together.  Segomo and Narbus greeted him warmly but paled on seeing the state of him and his men.  Narbus was the first to call out.  “Looks like you had a hard time getting to us.”  Antinius replied, panting for breath.
“The beasts of the city are aware of our intent.  Atrius is forming a small army at the market place, we tried to skirt around it but they saw us and chased us into the slums.  The cramped space and foul excuses for humans that live there put them off enough for what was left of us to escape.”  Antinius looked as though he were close to collapsing from exhaustion.  His armour and uniform were the same as those worn by Segomo and Narbus but unlike theirs his was dented and crusted with blood.  They saw blood flowing gently down his leg from a wound under his red tunic.  His expression darkened as he tried to whisper out to Narbus and Segomo.  “Atrius has decreed that all humans in the city are to be slaughtered.  We told as many as we could when passing.  They will either be running here or hoping they can hide until the madness ends.”

Narbus shook his head sadly.  He knew that the madness would only end if they were victorious.  If not, Atrius would annihilate every human in the city and then move on to the surrounding villages, taking fresh slaves to repopulate a depleted stock.  He doubted the free humans of the city would be spared, even though their skills were what kept the city running, kept food in the bellies of its population and ensured the streets were not so foul as to see the city dominated by disease.

The stream of refugees began arriving shortly after.  Ropes were lowered over the ever growing barricades.  The scope of what was being assembled against them convinced Narbus to ensure the streets around his school were blocked enough to be considered a fortress.  Every man woman and child was given some sort of armament.  There would be no difference if the schools defences were breached.  Any found there would be killed and most likely made into a temporary source of food for beasts who would find themselves starving without humans to tend the cattle that kept them fed.

The main street leading to the school became awash with noise as the number of refugees grew.  The city had close to then thousand humans and a quarter of that number of beasts in population.  The small area around the school they had secured would not fit them all.  The barricade blocking the main street had been made more secure.  It was twice the height of a man and had a platform built behind it.  Narbus looked out over the growing crowd, waiting to be pulled out of danger.  What would he do when he had no more room or the numbers grew to large to be managed for the provisions he had managed to store?

Torches were providing light now that night had descended over the city.  The row on the barricade became mirrored in the distance, beyond the gathered crowd along the main street.  Narbus found his hands were shaking as the row of torches moved closer.  The screams soon started.  It was impossible to tell in the dark how many people were crushed into the street.  They all become to push forwards desperate to get in as the message of the danger behind began to be passed forwards.  Ropes were lowered and people pulled clear as quickly as possible but panic had set in.  Many were now trying to climb the barricade, some tearing fingernails off as they scratched at the wood trying to find some purchase.

The screaming grew louder as the torches reached the rear of the mob.  They were soon thrown aside and the screams were mixed with growls and cries of triumph.  The beasts had arrived.  Narbus called out to his men.  “Warriors to the battlements, bring spear and stone.”  The call slowed the removal of the frightened people from the street below which only increased their panic.  Narbus felt the barricade beginning to shake under the weight of numbers being pressed against it.  He called out to Segomo and Antinius with a heavy heart.  “We must push them back or the barricade will collapse.”  Antinius looked at his friend, thankful to hear the order that he could not give.  Segomo looked out at the mob, his mind filling with images of the horrors no doubt being suffered by those at the back.  He nodded reluctantly knowing he had no choice.  The three called out at once together.
“We must force them back from the barricade.  Use your spear butts, don’t kill unless you have to.”  The men around looked up horrified at the order.  A mix of the shaking of the barricade, fear of what would happen if it fell and their training forced them to obey.

The press of bodies wasn’t stopped by the butts of spears.  The horror that was behind forced the press forward.  The warriors on the barricade soon changed to spear tip.  Each giving an apologetic look to the eyes of the man woman or child they were forced to drive their spears into. 

The night went quickly for those in the middle of the slaughter.  The attacking beats did not try to assault the barricade.  Dawn was beginning as the press of bodies finally stopped, a few remaining humans sat cowering against the wooden wall.  The few beasts who had approached had been met with the points of spears.  Narbus gave the order to offer the survivors sheltering beneath ropes to pull them clear.  Many were too traumatised by what they had seen and merely sat, arms and legs tucked in as tightly as they could.  Some of the warriors had themselves lowered to pull the survivors clear, most offered terrified glances, some showed the pain of what their fellow humans had been forced to do to them.

The light had risen enough for the grisly scene to viewed by those on the wall.  Narbus, Segomo and Antinius had stayed on it all night while the men around had taken turns defending the position.  Those now all looked on, seeing a street littered with well over a thousand corpses.  A pile of the tangled forms were pressed flush with the barricade wall.  Narbus looked down at them hating his own contribution to the night’s death toll.  His stomach lurched as he saw beasts in their armour and yellow cloaks feeding on the remains.  It was easy to tell which beasts had been part of the remnants of the City Guard.  They were the ones in armour and the ones who were feasting.  Antinius wondered if the beasts who worked with humans and had been ordered to fight and kill felt the same blood lust as their comrades or the same revulsion he felt.  The stone road appeared as though it were a lake of blood with disassembled parts floating on its surface.

Atrius stepped forward into the carnage, his clawed paws taking pleasure as they splashed in the puddles of blood.  Of all the beats he was the only one wearing a helmet.  The round iron shape topped with a plume of yellow dyed horse hair.  His voice always guttural called out to the men on the barricade.  “This is all that awaits you.”  Atrius pointed to the ground around him.  “Come out and fight us and we shall make your deaths quick.  If not you will watch as we peel the flesh from those we find alive until you die of hunger.  That would be a shame as you would leave us with nothing to feast on but skin and bone.”  His last words were shouted loudly for all his beasts to hear.  Those of the City Guard laughed out loud at his comments, howling into the air.  Narbus looked around to see there were few dry eyes among the men on the wall.  Some had sat down of the make shift battlements and were offering prayers to the gods.  The sound of the beasts baying for yet more blood was unsettling.  Narbus held his gaze on Atrius not daring to look around again for fear his own bowels would be loosened by the sight.
“Come and get us if you want a meal Atrius.  Are you afraid to fight real warriors?  Do you only prefer to butcher women and children.”  Narbus hoped to provoke Atrius to attack with his rebuke.  His response only chilled him more.
“You are food nothing more.  You have no conscience when butchering an animal for food.  Why should we have any for you?”  Narbus was chilled by the hint of truth in the statement.  He realised immediately there only hope would lie in Leucetius and Eudeyrn.  Without them they could not hope to fight their way free.